A collection of automotive stuff, restaurant/travel-related items and personal observations; mostly a lot of claptrap, really.

Nashville

Taken a few years ago at some joint on Broadway in Nashville, this was one of several photos with good-looking girls I had never laid eyes on before. It wasn't my birthday, but the Nissan crew was telling every attractive female we encountered that it was. Here's to getting older!

Monday, September 28, 2015

If that blue ring was actually secured to the floor, that's where the new toilet would go.

I'm not the kind of guy to make excuses
when I've been negligent in my blogging duties, but, hey, I've been
busy. In fact I've been so negligent, I suspect there are some
followers who have given up on me. I'd like to say that I will double
my efforts and do better, but that's probably not the case.

Although I haven't been traveling the
past two or three weeks, I have been covered up with work: paying and
otherwise. Don't feel neglected. I haven't hit a lick on my upstairs
renovation project in more than two months.

Most of last week was occupied working
and playing at Greenville's Euphoria. That was a four-day weekend
affair where I shot about 150 photos and 175 video clips. Following
that weekend, I spent four days retouching photos and editing
together a 3-minute-20-second video, which turned out pretty damn
good, if I say so myself.

Thinking I was basically going to coast
through this past weekend, I was unpleasantly surprised by a
malfunctioning toilet in my guest bath. This normally wouldn't take
on emergency status, but my master bath is part of the unfinished
upstairs renovation. I'm only human; I need to perform my biological
imperatives somewhere. The nearest gas station rest room is a half mile away.

I don't have the time to recount the
Biblical proportions of the Chinese fire drill replacing the commode has become, but
what would have normally been a 30-to-60 minute job in a newer home
has already sucked up nearly six hours of my time and the new toilet
isn't even out of the box yet. Did I mention the five trips to Home
Depot? I'll go into more detail once this life-changing challenge is
completed or I'm dead, whichever comes first.

I'm back on the road this week; so, not
much will get done. In the meantime, I have a big box loaded with
commode in the middle of my kitchen and an upstairs bath that the
only thing that does really function is the toilet.

Friday, September 11, 2015

I'm not the kind of guy who predicts a
pro team's season record after the first game or two. So, I certainly
won't attempt to draw any conclusions about the Steelers chances to
make the playoffs after it's NFL opening-day game against the
despicable Patriots. But I am uncharacteristically optimistic.

First an editorial aside on Brady
escaping his four-game suspension: All evidence points to his
complicity in “Delfategate.” Even the judge, who overturned the
suspension, in his ruling stated he took no issue with the NFL's
decision in the case. Nope. It was like the police finding the
victim's head in the suspect's freezer and then the case being thrown
out of court because there was no search warrant. The judge's ruling
was based solely on the ham-handed way the NFL handled the case.
There is little doubt the Patriots cheat at every opportunity.
Although they rarely are caught – Deflategate and Spygate being two
examples of when they have been – they persist in attempting unfair
advantage. Even in last night's game, they jammed the Steelers
coaches headsets for – if Steelers coach Mike Tomlin is to be
trusted – most of the first half. Such things are a common
occurrence at Patriots home games. Cheaters cheat. Brady shouldn't
have been on the field last night or for the three games to follow.
Period.

One of my favorite plays of the game!

He was, however, and it was a Tom
Brady-led team the Steelers needed to beat. Despite Mr. Brady dodging
his Deflategate punishment and playing last night against a young
defense -- under the leadership of a new defensive coordinator -- that
often appeared as though it had never practiced together, last year's
Super Bowl champions only managed four TDs. This was by far too many
points scored against any team that expects to make the playoffs, but
the defense has the talent and leadership to improve....a lot.

The main reason the 28-21 score was as
close as it was in this Steelers loss, was the offense. Sure it
scored those 21 points, but it also managed to keep Brady and company
off the field. In terms of possession: Steelers 32:05 versus Patriots
27:55. In out-possessing the Pats, the Steelers had 103 yards more
offense: Steelers 464 versus Pats 361. Big Ben, who just seems to
get better and better, tossed for 351 yards. DeAngello Williams,
filling in for suspended running back LeVeon Bell, averaged 6 yards
per carry for a total of 127 yards.

Williams gains a few more.

The offense accomplished all of this
without three of its offensive starters: Bell, center Pouncey and
wide receiver Martavis Bryant. A fairly remarkable performance, if
you think about it.

I went into last night's game expecting
a Patriots win with a margin of at least 21 points. It was 7!

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

I'm not the kind of guy who turns down
a carmaker's invitation to San Francisco simply because I don't much
care for the place. So when I received the nod from AutoTrader to
represent it at the recent Volvo event there, I cowboyed up and went.
And, despite having to travel across the bulk of the city from the
airport on the way to the Cavallo Point Hotel where Volvo hosted us,
the hotel is actually in Sausalito across the Golden Gate Bridge from
San Francisco. Technically, I wasn't staying in SF at all.

I had bunked at Cavallo Point before,
as had some of the other older hands on this trip. I was there with
Jeep Cherokee perhaps 10 years ago. Occupying much of what was Fort
Baker from the Civil War through WWII, the hotel sits at the foot of
the Golden Gate Bridge. The Army compliment stationed there manned
the artillery guarding the north end of the bridge and the access to
San Francisco Bay. V.M.I. has seen more combat.

Several of the fort's buildings remain
arrayed around what was once the parade ground, and today serve as
both guest rooms and common areas. We could clearly see the Golden
Gate Bridge from almost anywhere on the property. I got a good look
at it from my room's perch up the side of one of the hills
overlooking the bay. I calculate I had a climb of roughly 80 steps
straight up the mountain every time I returned to my room. It was
like a training course for Sherpas. I could have ridden to my room in
one of the available hotel cars, but it was a matter of pride. I now
realize I might well have joined Fort Baker's handful of casualties
over the years, following into history soldiers who accidentally
stabbed themselves with a fondue fork or took a fatal header off
their barracks' front stoop. My legs ached for three days after my
return to South Carolina.

A beautiful property, Cavallo Point is
more than eight miles from downtown SF. Ten or fifty would have been
better. I could still see SF across the bay. Those of us, though, who
like to strike out from wherever we are staying, taking a walk to
enjoy the sights – or in my case, sample some craft beers – had
to settle for hanging out at the hotel. It's not within walking
distance of much of anything, but it's not a bad place to be
stranded. And, I must admit, the hamburger I ate there for lunch on
my first day was one of the best I've had. So it's got that going for
it.

Singing for their supper....

Dinner both evenings was on the
property. Among other hotel features is a cooking school. Ostensibly
we were to participate in preparing our own dinner on the first
night, taking directions from the hotel's chef and her gaggle of
minions. In the finest military tradition, they organized us into
several five-person squads and assigned us to a squad leader. A few
of the squads wound up being under manned as some of us, deciding
discretion the better part of valor, drifted out through the bar to
the balcony to enjoy some wine and fresh air rather than shuck corn. Dinner turned out okay,
but, unsure of where some of my colleagues' hands had been prior to
the dinner prep, I picked at my salmon and ignored the baked chicken
thigh. I did wrap an extra dinner roll in a napkin in case I grew
feint during the mile-high climb back to my room.

Volvo introduced us to two new versions
of its midsize S60 sedan: S60 Inscription and the S60 Cross Country.
Both are labeled 2016s. Because these are variations of the popular
S60, they don't really break a lot of new ground for the
Chinese-owned Swedish carmaker. Each in their own way, however, are
unique S60 variants.

2016 Volvo S60 CC.

When it arrives in Volvo showrooms in
early fall, the $38,700 S60 Inscription will assume its place as the
S60 flagship, replacing last year's Platinum grade. It's a
long-wheelbase version of the sedan, and has the historic distinction
of being the very first car built in China to be imported to the
U.S.. Volvo stretched both the S60 Inscription's wheelbase and
overall length by three inches, translating into more legroom. At
36.9 inches, Volvo claims bragging rights to the most rear-seat
legroom in the S60's class.

A butched-up, off-pavement sedan, the
$43,500 S60 Cross Country has AWD as standard equipment. It also
provides 7.9 inches of ground clearance – about 2.5 inches more
than the regular S60, and the same as the Ford Edge. Its power comes
from the same 2.5-liter turbocharged five-cylinder and six-speed
automatic in other AWD 60-series vehicles. Fuel economy estimates are
20 mpg city/28 mpg highway/23 mpg combined. Volvo is only importing
500 units of the 2016 S60 CC, so get-em while they're hot!

Among the many high-tech features
included in the S60 CC is Volvo On Call app that allows you to remote
start, as well as lock and unlock the car from your smart phone.
There is also standard 3D navigation with Map Care, which includes
free map updates twice each year.

On our ride-and-drive day, we dined from a food truck.

Our morning drive included some
wonderfully windy roads, and concluded at the Sonoma County
Fairgrounds where we had lunch. Volvo had set up some cones designed
to demonstrate antilock-braking steering control.

Relaxing by the fire pit at dinner the second night before the frostbite set in.

Dinner that evening was on an outdoor
terrace. By the time the sun set, the temperature was probably in the
50s, and the wind was roaring. It was like being on the foredeck of
the Titanic. This was all well and good for the dessert of ice cream
and homemade cookies, but made keeping the hot main-course items even
remotely warm between putting them on a plate and returning to our
seats a serious challenge. Thank goodness there was a fire pit. If nothing else, however, we
automotive-media types are hardy and resilient; so, we somehow
managed to endure. I wrapped up a couple of extra cookies for the
long trek back to my room.

In the S60 CC and S60 Inscription,
Volvo has two strong additions to its 60-series lineup, which
accounts for roughly 75 percent of all Volvo sales in the U.S.
Although SF is far from my “happy” place, it was as good a spot
as any to get a first look at these new Volvos.

My 4-1-1

I began covering the automotive industry in 1986, when I parlayed my position as a retail sales rep into helping conceptualize and establish a stand-alone automotive section for the Boca Raton News a Knight-Ridder newspaper in South Florida. In 1995 I moved to the Palm Beach Post to help develop its bi-weekly automotive pages. Leaving there in 2000, I freelanced car reviews to a variety of publications before assuming a senior editor position at AMI Autoworld magazine in 2001. While at AMI I helped launch NOPI Street Performance Compact magazine and was appointed its managing editor. I have been freelancing since leaving AMI in 2004. My regular outlets have included Hispanic Magazine, the Miami Herald, the Washington Times, the Journal-Register Newspapers, AAA Go magazine, MyCarData.com, Automotive Metrics, AutoTrader, Bankrate.com and Interest.com.

In addition to freelancing automotive reviews, from 1991 until 2001 I was supervising producer of the syndicated television series Discover America.